A 32-year-old Iraqi illegal immigrant beat a 64-year-old fellow detainee to death after taking Spice for the first time, a court heard on Monday (October 16).

Zana Yusuf, also known as Yusif, appeared at the Old Bailey charged with the murder of Tarek Chowdhury, an illegal overstayer from Bangladesh, who Yusuf beat to death in a cell at Colnbrook Detention Centre in Harmondsworth on December 1 2016.

The court heard how Yusuf followed Chowdhury into a cell and repeatedly punched him in the face and body.

Chowdhury suffered severe head injuries during the attack and died at 9.30pm the next day.

Chowdhury was one of the oldest inmates at the facility – which houses around 400 mostly male detainees – and had only been in the centre for two days before he was killed.

Yusuf came to the UK in 2002 aged 17 and has a history of mental illness but had stopped taking his medication in the months leading up to the attack.

He later told psychiatrists he had taken the former "legal high" Spice on November 30 2016.

Prosecutor Jacob Hallam QC told the Old Bailey: "It is unclear whether this was a drug induced psychosis.

Yusif was staying at the Colnbrook Immigration Immigration Removal Centre

"Clearly he volunteered that he had taken Spice. As far as whether he did or didn't take Spice, the evidence only comes from him.

"It seems a surprising thing to say if he did not."

David Jones, representing Yusuf, said his client claimed he took it for the first time the day before the attack "and was unaware of what the impact would be on him."

Mr Hallam said that Yusuf's unpredictable and aggressive behaviour continued for many weeks after the attack, suggesting it was not directly caused by the drug.

But he added that Yusuf's existing mental health issues "may have been exacerbated by the consumption of Spice."

Judge Richard Marks QC, the Common Sergeant of London, adjourned sentence until November 13 to obtain further reports from psychiatrists on the issue of Yusuf's dangerousness.

Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre

The Colnbrook Centre is near Heathrow Airport and run by Mitie Care and Custody, which won the contract to run the centre in 2014 after Serco ran it from its opening in 2004.

At an earlier hearing Mr Hallam told the court: "Mr Yusuf was a detainee at the Colnbook Immigration Detention Centre in West Drayton.

"On Thursday December 1 he followed another detainee, a man called Tarek Chowdhury, who was in his 60s.

"He followed him into his cell and there the crown say attacked him primarily with his fists in what was a sustained attack which caused serious injuries to a man who was small and relatively elderly and frail."

Emergency services were called when Mr Chowdhury's cell mates managed to alert the guards to what had happened.

Yusuf, of no fixed address, denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.

You can set up your app to see all the latest news and events from your area, plus receive push notifications for breaking news.

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android .